The Maiden and the Mystery
by Scout-Is-Delicious
Summary: Based kind of on Beauty and the Beast. Back up already haha. A small-town girl looks to discover the truth about a rumor-shrouded trailer and its mysterious inhabitant. Rating may rise in later chapters.
1. The Beauty

**Hey, all, it's me, finally. But of course, I'm here with a new story... :\ Well, the Disney movie gave me a HUGE inspiration to write a love story between a beautiful girl and a mysterious boy who has strange rumors circling him claiming he's part-monster. It's got a few elements from the movie itself but other than that it's pretty much my own plot, I suppose. This first chapter is super boring but I will post the next one tomorrow. Read and review, perhaps? Thanks to anyone who does :) --Mandy**

**DISCLAIMER - I do not own "Beauty and the Beast", or any mentioned titles (allusions?) in the story.**

There's a small town called Bluestone, located in western Wisconsin, where gossip travels faster than the wind. Here is where a young teenage girl and her older brother live in a medium-sized house at the center of the town on Silver Avenue. The house was tall, with white siding and dark blue shutters on the windows, neat green hedges bordering the boundaries of the yard. And from its door that day emerged the lovely Andromeda Ambrose.

With a finely-drawn face framed by the loose spirals of sunshine-blond curls that spilled across her shoulders, she was repeatedly ogled at by several male inhabitants every time she strolled through the town to visit the library. Her deep inquisitive sapphire eyes were almost always lost in a book; all too often, boys thought she spent too much time reading and not enough time doing other, as they said, "important things". These things they referred to were seeing movies, going on dates, or shopping. She never listened to them, though—she was her own woman.

On that warm summer evening, Andromeda stepped off her porch stairs, a thick book under one arm. As her walk to the library began, she adjusted her loose orange camisole over her faded cut-off jean shorts. She truly was a picture of grace.

Halfway past the bank, a boy with wispy hair the color of cocoa came trotting to her side. "Hey, Andy," he said, carrying his skateboard the same way she carried her book. "What story did you just finish?"

"_Oliver Twist,_" she told him proudly. "It's about a cute little orphan who--" She paused when she noticed a purplish bruise on his left cheek. "Oh, Gabe, were you fighting _again_?"

He smiled sheepishly, "Nah, me and Carson were just messing around and he whacked me. No big deal."

"You're gonna find yourself in a hospital one of these days, Gabriel."

"Won't happen," he said rather confidently. In a short second, he frowned. "Carson still wants to date you."

Andromeda's pretty face contorted into a grimace, "That disgusting pig is still interested? I've turned him down almost a dozen times! What part of 'no' doesn't he understand?"

"The 'no' part," Gabriel pointed out.

He'd been her best friend since they were toddlers—their parents had been poker buddies—and growing up, they were nearly inseparable. But since he dropped out of high school and she remained, they didn't see much of each other except for summertime visits and occasional passes.

Gabriel fiddled with one of the gauges in his ear. "Well, I'm gonna go meet up with him now. Want to go with us to get a slushie?"

"I have to get a new book and then help my brother get ready for the art show. Maybe some other time."

"Okay, see you, Andy." He put down his skateboard and rolled away.

Andromeda continued down the sidewalk in the bright summer sunshine, which lit her sallow curls to a shiny gold. There was a light bounce to her step, almost a skip.

The library was a miniscule wooden building that was once a bar. The books were all fairly new because not many people went in there in Bluestone. Andromeda was its number-one customer.

The cool breeze of a fan washed over her upon entering the small building. Mrs. Linx, the owner, glanced up from her papers to see the blond girl walk in, at which the old woman smiled.

"Back for another book already?" she chortled as she stood up from her chair. She was a plump gray-haired woman whose dark chestnut eyes had already seen every book in that room.

"Yes, I am," Andromeda said, setting the book she'd been holding down on the desk and skimming along the shelves.

"Anything in particular you'd fancy?"

"Hmm… perhaps a romance novel… something exciting but sweet at the same time."

"Oh, I've just the thing," Mrs. Link chimed and scurried away to another shelf. "I think you'll really enjoy _City of Bones_, full of romance and adventure and killing demons."

Andromeda took the book to read the back cover. "That sounds interesting. I'll take it."

"Don't forget to bring it back in one week," the librarian reminded her. "But I'm sure you'll remember." She wrote the girl's name, asked her to sign it, and then Andromeda was on her way.

Just outside the library, she literally ran into a hard muscular body that nearly knocked her backwards. Maintaining her balance, she looked up at the electric-blond emerald-eyed face of Carson Taylor.

He smirked at her, "Hey there, sexy, Reading again?"

"I am." She leaned away from his hot, sweat-damp body. "Aren't you supposed to be with Gabe?"

"He's waiting for me at the ice cream store. Now why don't you come with me and we can go share a cone?"

"Very tempting, Carson, but I need to get home and help my brother prepare for the art show in Milwaukee, so I must be getting back home now."

"Can I help you with that?" he asked genuinely; she could sense the undercurrent behind his offer.

"Thank you, but no thank you." In a hurry she ran down the sidewalk, book tucked under her arm, on a homeward dash. Along the way she passed Justin, the automobile mechanic, who paused in his fixing a car to say hi; Norma Beth, cranky owner of Bluestone Shoes where her brother worked; Brittney and Amanda, her preppy schoolmates who spent all of their time shopping for cosmetics or salivating after Carson; and some random hobo who sat on the corner of Main Street and Rock Path Boulevard every day.

Her house was salvation. When she saw it amongst the deep green leaves against the bright sky, she started running faster until she was through the gate where she fell onto the grass, so happy to be back in her own yard and, especially, away from Carson.


	2. The Departure

**Hey all. Just announcing chapter two. Still kind of boring, but this is where the story actually begins. Read and review, please :) --Mandy**

Perseus Ambrose was eighteen years old, about a year-and-a-half over his sister, and he resembled her (or really, she resembled him) so much, it was ironic. He was more pale of a blond, though his eyes ocean-blue and he had the same thin build but much manlier. He had a very creative disposition, therefore he loved to paint.

He looked up from his latest work when the door shut, "Andy, you're just in time!"

"What for?" asked Andromeda as she put down her new book.

"To see my finished painting," Perseus said cheerfully. His arms, jeans, face, and smock were splattered with multicolored paint. He'd been working on a canvas for almost two months, detailing the image as well as he could in hopes of winning the five-hundred dollar first prize in a Milwaukee art show. With a few dabs of the brush in different places, he stepped back to admire his work.

Andromeda had to marvel at it. The painting, probably three-by-four feet in area, was of a gorgeous white Arabian stallion galloping elegantly up a scenic mountain trail. Every detail was defined unbelievably well, from the snow-speckled summits to the firm muscles of the horse's haunches, every hair in its mane and tail and eyelashes.

"It looks amazing, Percy," she breathed in sheer awe. "You are surely going to win."

"Yes!" He gave his sister a joyous hug. "Help me get it into the car! But be careful, the paint's still a bit damp."

Easing the canvas out the front door, they loaded it into the backseat of Perseus's old red Buick, right beside his suitcase.

As he was covering it with a tarp, he spoke to her, "If I leave today, I should get a good section to put it up. Maybe I can get friendly with the judges, you know?"

"Being buddies with the judges won't give you bonus points, Percy." Andromeda rolled her blue eyes at him. "But look, go tonight if you want. I can watch the house just fine."

He gave her a submissive look. "I don't feel right leaving my little sister all alone. What if that hobo comes for you?"

"Don't worry about anything. Gabriel can come help if there's any trouble." She gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm not a baby anymore. You can rest easy. Besides, you'll be back tomorrow, right?"

He shook his head, "Two days."

"Oh…" Biting her lip, she shrugged. "Just don't worry. Focus on the trip, the art, the city—it's not every day you get to go into Milwaukee."

"Um…" Perseus was candid for a moment. "Okay. You call me if you have any problems."

"I will." She stood on tiptoe to hug her brother. "Good luck, Perce."

"Saying 'good luck' is bad luck!"

Again she rolled her eyes. "Break a leg."

Perseus climbed into the front seat, and as he shut the door, she met his uncertain blue gaze. He drove away slowly, almost reluctantly, watching her until he was out of view.

"Hey, Andy!"

She stopped waving at the sound of the voice.

Gabriel's head popped up from behind the hedge. "Your brother left already?"

"Yep. What're you doing here?"

"Carson ditched me, so I came to find you." He stepped into the yard hesitantly. "Can we talk?"

--

In the kitchen, Andromeda served Gabriel some grape juice while he sat casually at the table. She had no idea how he couldn't be too hot in his thick baggy t-shirt and jeans.

"So what's going on?" she asked as she sat down.

He only seemed half-present mentally. When his hazel gaze met hers, he said, "I broke up with Lyanne."

"What? Why?"

"We never see each other anymore, and when we do, it's really uncomfortable." He took another drink of grape juice. "I just walked out of it, I guess. We got bored and it finally took its toll."

"Oh… I'm sorry." Andromeda watched him type speedily on his cell phone.

"It's Carson," he said, as if reading her mind. "He wants to know if I'm with you."

She scoffed, "What'd you say?"

"I told him 'nope'." He smirked at her.

"Thanks, Gabe."

--

The sun had vanished behind a thick group of dark cumulonimbus clouds. A sprinkle or two of rain dotted the windshield of Perseus's car as he was at the outskirts of Bluestone. Here there were lots of trees with woods dark and fairly frightening.

"Sure hope Andy will be okay on her own," he said aloud to himself. He was reconsidering leaving without her when something beeped; Perseus had the anxious realization that he'd forgotten to check the air in the tires.

Ahead a few yards, he saw a small trailer house nestled among the trees. Hoping to find someone to help with his flattening tire, he stopped the Buick on the side of the road, opened his umbrella haphazardly, and stepped out into the warm rain.

A low rumble of thunder growled overhead. Perseus lowered the umbrella slightly for fear of lightning. He did not recognize the road he was on, and he wondered briefly if he'd taken a wrong turn.

He was nearly to the trailer, but a noise like grunting came from the forest.

"Hello?" Perseus called out.

"Who are you?" A grimy, ratty bum seemed to slither out from the trees. He looked about twenty, maybe older, though he was quite ugly.

"I don't want trouble," said Perseus, feeling uneasy. "I was just passing through and my tire--"

"His tire's crapped out, boys," growled the stranger, as three more thugs emerged. He addressed Perseus, "What's your name, kid?"

"Uh… Perse--"

"Percy!" bellowed the smallest guy, a young-looking fellow in a black sweatshirt and dirty white tennis shoes. "He's got an old geezer's name! Let's call him Pussy!"

"Um… I think--"

The first man cut him off, "Meet my crew, Pussy—this is Crunch," he motioned to the burliest man, who appeared to be dark-skinned, "Shank," then to the taller, leaner one with long greasy brown hair, "Hook," to the shortest one, "and I'm Bust. He popped his collar. "I believe you are on our territory, Puss."

Perseus backed up slowly, intimidated, before making a mad dash for his car. Throwing the door open, he jumped inside and frantically tried to start it.

Then beside the window was the big thug, Crunch, who slammed his massive fist and shattered the Buick's window. Into the broken window he reached, grabbing Perseus by his shirt collar and pulling him out. Perseus found himself off the ground while staring fearfully at the oily scratched face of the man who was lifting him.

"Hey, Pussy, got any money on you?" asked Hook, peering inside the Buick.

"Check his pockets, Shank," ordered Bust.

The lanky man used a long sharp switchblade to slice open Perseus's jean pockets. A few cents fell from there, along with his black leather wallet. "Got something," Shank said in a gritty voice.

Bust's smile revealed a mouthful of missing or decayed teeth. "Well, Puss," he drawled, moving to pick up the wallet, "you might be able to go free after all." He opened it, examined it, then threw it disgustedly to the pavement. "Asshole! You must've removed your cash."

"I didn't, I--" Perseus tried to say.

"You couldn't pay the toll, Pussy. Now you gotta pay the penalty." He snapped his fingers. "Let's rough him up, boys."

The last thing Perseus saw was every thug approaching him, fists at the ready, and from there it all went black.


	3. The Trailer

**Chapter Three. I'll keep the story up but in a not-so-irrelavent category so whoever wants to follow this story, please find it and review it :)**

Gabriel and Andromeda had been in her basement watching a movie for the past hour. Their conversations were intermittent between boring scenes.

"So, Andy," Gabriel began in a soft voice. "I know you've got a lot on your mind with school and books and Carson, but… you know, I'm single now, and if… you would want to consider… me." He swallowed too fast and nearly choked on his words.

Andromeda had almost seen this coming. She sighed, looking him in his earthy eyes, "Gabe, we've been friends since we were little, and I really appreciate--"

Her phone buzzed in her shorts pocket. Tentatively she took it out, motioned for him to wait a moment, and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

A deep gravelly voice purred on the other end, "Are you family of Perssss… Perseus Ambrose?"

"I am," she said, confused slightly. "Who's th--"

"He's resting in the trailer house on the east border of Bluestone. His car is in the road."

"Why is he--"

"Come here and take him home." They hung up.

Andromeda's limbs were weak and tingling. What could have happened to Perseus?

"Andy?" Gabriel frowned at her. "What's wrong?"

"I think something's happened to Percy…"

"Why? Where is he?"

She stood up. "We have to go to the trailer house on the east side of town. He's there."

"Trailer?!" Gabriel jumped to his feet. "You can't go there! Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"The rumors!" He lowered his voice, "No one who's ever gone there has returned sane. They've all been sent to an insane asylum."

"Why?" she asked.

"They say a… a beast lives there. A big, ugly, mind-clouding monster who steals your money and eats your fingers and toes."

She stared incredulously at him. "You're joking." She sounded less than convinced.

"Okay, I made up that last part, but there really is a creature there!"

"Gabe," she said, giving him a smile of pity. "There's no beast. Simply put, it doesn't exist. Now, I need to get to that trailer and find out what's happened to my brother, and if you won't help me, I'm going myself."

"No way!" he yelped. "You're not going alone. I'll drive you."

--

Soon they were pulling over Gabriel's Nissan Maxima along the roadside at the town's eastern edge. Parked near the wet grass was a familiar red Buick with a busted window and four flat tires.

"Oh, my gosh…" Andromeda jumped out of Gabriel's car before he'd even stopped it. In a panic she checked the Buick's damage, yet she didn't find any trace of her brother.

Gabriel went to stand near her. "Wow, is his car trashed."

"Who would've done this?" she whispered.

"The beast!" he cried suddenly, and she looked at him. "He attacked the car and ate your brother!"

She swatted him across the face. "Enough of that!" Glancing up at the trailer settled among the trees, she felt a twinge of bravery. "Maybe he's in there. Besides, I didn't see any blood."

"Well, it _is_ sprinkling."

She was already heading for the small home. Her curls were wetted down from the rain shower and her shirt was getting soaked. Thankfully she'd grabbed a sweatshirt on her way out of her house, and she took a moment to put it on.

Gabriel trotted to her side. "I don't like this, Andy…"

"Just chill out."

The trailer was white like ivory but quite rusty. The windows were boarded up, the glass broken. The sun was setting behind the clouds far beyond the trees, and the cool air was still around them while the rain fell evenly and made a tinny sound as it pounded on the trailer's flat roof.

Andromeda hesitated on her way up the wet wooden steps. She smoothed her long hair, flipped the hood up over her head, and raised a fist to knock.

Her friend was beside her, his hands tucked into his jeans pockets.

She knocked.

For a few seconds, there was no answer. The rain kept falling, the breeze fluttered the wet leaves, and the road remained quiet.

"No one's home," Gabriel said in less than a whisper.

"I'm not leaving without Percy." She knocked again.

Still there was no reply.

"You know this is probably some practical joke some freak is playing on us?"

"Shut up, Gabe." Impatient, Andromeda grasped the handle and tugged, though it took a few shoves, and she went charging into the trailer.

At once a musty smell assaulted her nostrils. Around them the room was littered with clothing, empty containers and bags, spilled bottles and cans, crawling spiders, broken glass and wood, torn cloth, and an unbelievable amount of short shed hairs.

Andromeda flicked the light switch beside her but no lights turned on. In fact, there was no light bulb in the socket at all.

"This place is a dump," groaned Gabriel.

"Shh." The girl moved cautiously into the room, stepping over garbage. "Perseus!" she whispered loudly.

Somewhere in the far corner of the trailer, she saw something lying limp in a ripped armchair. The nearer she got the more familiar it became. "Percy!"

At the sound of his name, Perseus raised his head. "What happened to me? Why does my head hurt so bad?"

He'd begun to stand up, but a searing pain shot up his leg and he crumpled back into the chair. "Ouch!"

She bent to inspect the rip in his right pant leg, where blood stained the denim around the hole. A deep gash was scarred upon his skin.

"Oh, Percy!" She turned to Gabriel, "I want you to get an ambulance. Go call the police. Go--"

A loud crash like a collapsing dining room chair sounded behind her. Gabriel ducked as a precaution.

Whirling around, Andromeda peered through the dimness and dust to see a slim shape rising from the floor.

Gabriel yelled in fear. "It's the beast! Run!" He bolted for the door, though he wasn't far from it, and scurried down the steps to his car.

Andromeda squinted. She could see it was a human's shape, lean but hazy in the dark. While she was getting to her feet, she saw it move even closer.

"Who's here?" asked the deep husky voice.

_Definitely male,_ she thought, _no question._

"Andromeda Ambrose, Perseus's sister." She was trying to sound as brave as she felt. "I received a phone call that told me to come here."

"Lies," the voice snarled. "There's no working phone here, now you take that blond dipshit and get out of this place."

The tone struck her as aggressive; she helped Perseus to his feet while staring over at the still-unsettled dust. On her way to the door, she caught a glimpse of the figure retreating into the back of the trailer, so she swallowed hard and said, "Thank you."

She saw the person stop, hesitate, but continue on his way.

Shrugging, Andromeda helped her brother limp down the few steps to where Gabriel sat in his Nissan, looking distraught. When he saw them, he jumped out to help.

"It's fine, Gabe, but I can tell you that it wasn't a beast." She pushed Perseus in the backseat of the Maxima. "It's just a cranky guy. Let's go." She climbed in the passenger seat.

"But Andy," Perseus said from behind her, "What about my car? What about the art show?"

"We'll have to come back for your car, Percy," said Gabriel, starting the engine.

"My painting's in there!"

So Andromeda and Gabriel went to get Perseus's unharmed painting and loaded it into the seat beside him. As they drove away, Andromeda glanced back at the trailer through the rear window, now more determined than ever to prove Gabriel wrong.


	4. The Boy

**Chapter Four :)**

With Perseus in the hospital for treatment of his leg and Gabriel away on a family vacation to Florida, Andromeda had plenty of home-alone time to think about the old trailer and the mysterious person inside. She developed a great curiosity for it; there wasn't an hour of the day it didn't cross her mind and she wanted to know more about it.

So in hopes of gaining some facts and opinions, she took to the streets with a notepad, determined to solve the mystery of the trailer boy.

First she spoke to Norma Beth in the shoe store.

"I've been around a while, young lady," the old woman had said. "In all my years, I've never seen anyone go in or out of that trailer."

Next, Andromeda consulted with Justin the mechanic.

"I've heard stories," he'd told her. "They say there's a werewolf living there who only comes out at night."

Then she talked to a business man named Greg who worked at the office building uptown with Gabriel's father.

"They say he's of lupine descent," he'd said. "Raised by wolves and left an orphan long ago, but I don't believe such rubbish."

She conversed with Scarlett, a shady Goth girl from her school.

"I heard the government injected him with wolf DNA. But I think there was black magic involved." She'd gone off on some creepy rant, and Andromeda was glad to move on.

She avoided speaking to Carson and moved on to speak to the hobo on the street, who spoke with a Scottish, almost pirate-like accent.

"Cursed, he is," said the man in a guttural voice, "by his father 'fore he died. Me sources say he was an angry man. Didn't 'preciate nothin', not even his own son. Poor child. Never had no one to look up to, so he went off and lived on his lonesome. Aye, I pity the boy…"

Once her interviews were finished, she returned home to examine her notes. She linked some stories to others, a statement or word here and there that tied in with another. The term that repeated struck her as odd was "wolf". While Norma Beth was no help, everyone else's stories contained a reference of some kind to wolves.

More tenacious than ever, Andromeda set out to discover by sight. She would go to the east edge of Bluestone, sit in the trees across the road, and stare at the trailer until her eyes burned, camera at the ready and notebook and pencil beside her in the grass.

But for three days, after an hour of sitting there watching the trailer sit there in solitude, she saw nothing unusual or even any movement at all. She almost wished some strange thing would happen where the trailer grew legs and walked away. And yet it sat there, unmoving, minute by minute, staring her down in the same way she did to it.

"I've been spying on the trailer for three days now," she said over the phone to Gabriel after another hour of swiping away bugs and shaking dirt off her jeans. "I haven't seen that door open once. I'm starting to think it's just a person in there, someone who just doesn't like the outside world."

"Hmm… maybe. But I don't like the thought of you being out there by yourself. You could get kidnapped, or… or…"

"Or what?"

He paused. "…eaten."

She groaned, "I've heard enough of the monster stories, Gabe. If I haven't been eaten after three days, it's not gonna happen, so just forget about it."

"Fine, but don't put yourself in any danger, okay? Promise me that."

"I promise."

"All right, I gotta go. I'll call you tomorrow… Bye."

"Bye."

--

Andromeda began having dreams about the trailer and its bizarre inhabitant, starting the night of her third day of failure. In those dreams she saw a man shrouded in darkness like a fine mist, then herself running from a doglike animal that chased her until she got to her house, which was usually when she woke up. Each dream lasted about an hour, and she always awakened with a cold sense of déjà vu.

As the dreams persisted, she finally decided, around midnight on the sixth night, that she _had_ to solve this mystery.

She got dressed, a dark t-shirt and ripped jeans would be fine, and quietly crept down the stairs, even though Perseus was still hospitalized. If any of her neighbors saw her, they'd suspect her of being up to no good.

But who says they were wrong?

Alone with nothing but her trusted throwing knife, she walked through the dark cool night for almost twenty minutes until she came to the east side of the town. She was being led almost in a trance created by her desire to know the truth.

At the edge of Bluestone where the trailer sat in lonely solitude, Andromeda pulled out her knife. She carefully tiptoed up the wood steps, attempted to push the door in quietly, and moved into the trailer.

The smell was the first thing to greet her, the uninviting odor of rotted food and unwashed dishes and laundry. It was just as messy as it had been the last time she'd been there.

However, the darkness was consuming. She could scarcely see anything in front of her. She felt around her pockets for a flashlight, but when she didn't find one, she flipped open her phone. Its light was powerful enough to illuminate several feet ahead.

Cautiously she walked further across the room, her heart pounding against her ribs. The light revealed the heaps of worn clothing and abundant trash, along with a few shelves and end tables which seemed generally empty.

Bending down, Andromeda examined a box of cereal that had been sliced down the middle by what appeared to have been massive claws. The top of the box had a hole in the right corner large enough for a rat to crawl through.

Andromeda grimaced at the sight of a rather large spider skittering between piles of blank papers. She raised her phone's light to the wall, where a single framed photo caught her attention.

She approached it.

The glass was cracked, broken over the face of a tall black-haired man with a stern face and pale hazel eyes. He was beside a long-haired woman whose face radiated beauty and kindness, her bright blue eyes as comforting as her smile. In front of her was a shorter less-beautiful girl who was only half-smiling, and the man's hand rested on the shoulder of a young boy with short ebony hair, pale eyes like thin gray clouds over the vivid blue sky, and a full youthful grin.

She frowned, looking harder at the photograph. One of them lived here… one of the males… the boy.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing in here?"

Andromeda spun so the light of her phone fell upon the wall adjacent to her.

There was nothing there.

Quietly she spoke, "Hello…?"

"You're trespassing! Get out of here!"

She had to know who it was. She wouldn't be able to sleep if she didn't.

In a rush of adrenaline, she grabbed the photograph and bolted.

"Where do you think you're going with that? Come back!"

She jumped down all three steps, landed in the dirt, and started to run. Her pulse was racing, almost as fast as her feet. She looked over her shoulder to see when something grabbed her waist and pulled her down into the grass.

Andromeda kept the photo under her stomach while she squirmed inside the person's hold. She felt a heavy pressure on her waist as a hand reached for the picture.

_Rape_, she thought, _scream 'rape'!_

The hand simply rolled her effortlessly onto her back. In her panic she slipped the photo beneath her again before opening her eyes to see the person who'd attacked her.

Her fear faltered when she actually saw him. Against the light of the moon above them, his thin well-defined face was sketched in white outline. Aside from several pimples, his skin was smooth and pale, his eyes fluid blue-silver and fixed angrily upon hers.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he said sharply.

"I… I…" Andromeda found herself at a loss for words. He was… handsome. Not Gabriel-cute, but handsome.

"Give me the picture you just _stole_ from me and maybe I won't call the freaking cops on you."

"Wait, I… who are you?"

"Your mom, now hand it over."

"I will after you tell me your name."

He exhaled heavily, looking aggravated. "This is such a waste of time," he muttered. "My name's Ezekiel. I want my picture back."

"Did you save my brother?"

"You said you'd--"

"Answer me!" she demanded.

"Yes, I did! He got jumped by a gang and I chased them off, okay?"

She presented him with the photograph. "Thank you."

He swiped it from her, grumbling, and stood up. It gave her the opportunity to view his whole body, from his lean muscular chest to his flat slender stomach attached to thin convex hips leading to long slim legs. Her gaze locked on his rear end and her veins blazed with heat. Was this boy real or was she still at home, tossing in her bed, dreaming?

"Hey!" she called after him.

He paused to glare back at her.

"Uh…" She swallowed her increasing saliva. "You know the rumors about you being some kind of beast?"

"What of them?"

"Are they true?"

"No. And if you know what's good for you, you'll forget about me. Just forget this night ever happened." He loped to the trailer and disappeared through the door.

Andromeda got to her feet in the grass. Heart hammering, she turned away from the house and started for home. The night was unmoving around her, the trees still, the stars twinkling, the moon casting a milky glow. The road was even quieter at night; even fewer cars than the few that drove by during the day used this road after dark.

When she arrived home, she moved like a zombie up the staircase and collapsed limp onto her bed. For the first time, during her dream, she could clearly visualize the boy's face.


	5. The Apologies

**Chappie 5 :D I hope more people start to read. This is where things kinda get started. Enjoy :) --Mandy**

Waking up the next morning, Andromeda assumed she'd been dreaming the whole night. She dressed, ate breakfast, and read her book like she always did on summer mornings. Gabriel would be coming home that afternoon, so she'd have someone to hang out with instead of sitting in front of the trailer staring at the siding.

She made a trip to the grocery store to buy food for when Perseus returned in two days.

_Perseus…_ she thought while placing a box of Cheez-Itz in the plastic basket. The memory of the previous night flooded her mind.

"He got jumped by a gang and I chased them off…" the boy had said.

She felt curiosity burn her stomach like fire. _What gang? And how could a guy his size scare off a whole group of guys anyway?_

--

Later on, once Gabriel was settled down at his house again, Andromeda went to visit him. She planned on rubbing the truth in his face until he realized how foolish he'd been and admitted she was right.

The moment he opened his front door, she burst into song, "I told you so, I told you so, _IIIII_ told you so!"

"Told me what?" Gabriel prodded one of his gauged ears.

"There's no beast in that trailer, you dimwit! It's a kid—a cranky slobby guy lives there."

He watched her with hazel eyes that seemed to pretend he didn't know her. "You're serious?"

"Dead serious. I went there at, like, midnight and--"

"You went there in the middle of the night?!" bellowed Gabriel, having to stable himself on the doorframe.

She winced.

"Andy!" He put both hands in his wispy brown hair. "Do you have any idea what could've happened to you? You might've gotten raped, or jumped, or killed, or worse—pregnant!"

She looked at him strangely. Maybe she would leave out the part about the boy pinning her down. "I had my knife on me, Gabe," she said as if it would reassure him.

"That doesn't matter. You still put yourself in serious danger, Andy. You broke your promise!"

"Gabe, you don't und--"

"You go out at freaking _midnight_ because you want to find out who some stranger is? Am I the only one who's seeing something wrong with this?"

"You sound like my mom, Gabriel," she said, getting angry.

"Well, what do you think she'd say if she were here?!"

Andromeda stared coldly at him, and he knew he'd gone too far.

"Andy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean--"

"No, you're right. What _would_ she think of her life's biggest mistake?" Not even waiting for a reply, she walked away. She heard Gabriel calling her name, but she didn't at all care to acknowledge him.

--

The sun was falling below the distant hills as Andromeda walked silently to the east edge of Bluestone. Within her sweatshirt she held a newly-purchased picture frame from the grocery store.

The trailer was a bit difficult to spot from a distance in the dark, though its white siding reflected the moonlight. Andromeda climbed the steps and knocked awkwardly on the door. Her heart was pounding again and it was making her stomach weave stressfully into knots.

No one answered, so she knocked again.

Her foot tapped anxiously on the wood. Glancing up, she saw the trees stretching their branches overhead, obscuring her view of the sky.

Still, nobody replied.

Annoyed now, she knocked a third time, harder and louder than before.

This time there was a shuffling sound from the interior, followed by a gritty shout, "Who is it?!"

"It's me, again… um… I wanted to apologize for breaking in yesterday. It was stupid and wrong of me."

The door opened merely a crack, revealing a chain lock on the inside and one steely-blue eye peering at her. "Gee, you think so?" he said sarcastically.

"Yes," she said, ignoring his tone. "I'm very sorry. I, uh… got you something as an apology gift." She saw his eye widen a bit. "Here, if you'll permit my intrusion."

He watched her take out the new frame. He seemed indifferent about the whole thing. "What is it?" he asked.

She looked disbelievingly at his eye. "It's a new picture frame. I saw the other one's broke, so I bought you a new one."

Slipping his arm through the narrow crack, he took it from her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome… Ezekiel."

The sound of his name made him flinch. He stared incredulously at her for a long time; to Andromeda, it felt like forever.

Finally he shut the door.

Her heart fell like a dropping elevator into the pit of her swirling stomach. This kid was too ornery to talk to. She turned, about to leave, when a lock clicked.

He had the door open while he leaned against it. He looked pensive, maybe troubled. For a long time he kept his gaze on the ground; several more seconds went by until he met hers. "Do you wanna come in?"

She couldn't tear her eyes from his face. He'd done much more than catch her eye, he'd caught her interest. He stepped away to allow her inside, and she stood uneasily beside a cabinet stacked high with crusty plates.

After he shut the door, he turned to her. "Sorry, it's really messy in here."

"Yeah," she muttered. _That's an understatement._

He kicked aside some piles of junk—a mouse may or may not have scurried out from beneath a heap of clothes—to create a path for her leading to a couple of wood chairs in what appeared to be a kitchen area. As they both settled into a seat, she flipped her long golden curls behind her shoulders, feeling more self-conscious by the second.

When he looked at her again, his blue eyes were distant. "Why did you come back _just_ to give me this?" he asked and set down the photo frame.

"I felt awful for taking your old one--"

"No, why a picture frame?"

"Well… your other one is broken."

"So what? Who says I didn't want it broken?" He shrugged apathetically.

The gesture made her frown. "Why would you want that?"

"Why do you think?" he said rather snidely.

She recoiled a bit. "Perhaps you're… unhappy."

"Good work, genius."

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

A silence fell over them, then he asked, "What's your name?"

She raised her head slightly. "Andromeda," she told him. Her voice conveyed her current aura of shyness.

"Andro-what?"

"Andromeda. An-_drah_-meh-duh."

"What language is _that_ from?"

"I don't know, really. I think Latin. My brother and I were both named after constellations."

He stared blankly at her.

"You know," she said, "star patterns?"

"I know that, but what constellation were you named for?"

"Uh… Andromeda," she repeated herself. "The chained maiden, or… princess."

"Chained lady, huh?" He stood up and moved to the fridge. Opening the door, while no cool air came out, he withdrew a pitcher of water. "Thirsty? It's rainwater from that storm yesterday."

Her nose crinkled up in disdain. "Um… no thanks."

Another shrug, and he put the rim of the pitcher to his thin pink lips.

Andromeda watched him take a slow sip. His Adam's apple moved when he swallowed, and a droplet of water leisurely slipped down off his chin. "Don't you have running water?" she asked quietly.

"Nope," he said with a sigh. "I don't have any money to pay for it."

"So you drink the rain?"

He nodded. He'd already drained half the pitcher.

"What if it doesn't rain for days?"

"I make it last. Or I go down to the river." He sat once he'd put away the pitcher.

"What about…" She paused, swelling with awkwardness.

"What?"

"…a toilet?" Her face burned.

But he didn't seem to be fazed by the weird question. "I go outside in the woods. It's not that big of a deal." He walked to the functionless sink, where he peeked through a crevice in the boards on the window. "Why are you so curious about me, anyway?"

She couldn't even find an actual reason, aside from that she was insatiably curious. He intrigued her the way a colorful new toy fascinated a young child—she needed to examine it, go back and see it over and over so it resurfaced in her mind day after day, admire its beauty and newness to her senses, maybe even… touch it, allow herself to get accustomed to its function and originality. She couldn't repress this desire.

"Truthfully," she began, gulping the lump of insecurity that had prevented her from breathing properly. "I've never met someone like you. Even from first impression, I knew you were… different somehow. It sounds really dumb, but it's true."

Ezekiel stood there inspecting her with a skeptical expression. "Wow… that's so corny." He was grinning wide, a smile that brightened his face, and he started laughing.

If it had been Gabriel mocking her, she would have likely slapped him. However, this boy—man—had a laugh so exotic, it could've hypnotized her.

"'Different,'" he chuckled, "jeez, you make me sound like some type of animal."

Something jolted to life in Andromeda's brain. She dug deep into her common courtesy to find a descent, innocent way of wording her thought. "I've heard things…"

"That's what ears are for."

"No, I mean, I've heard things about you."

He was busy putting dirty dishes into cobwebbed cupboards. "Uh huh…" he said, only half-listening.

"They say… you're a bit… weird."

"Everybody's weird."

"Yeah, but…" She exhaled sharply. "They say you're, like… part wolf, or something."

He angled his head toward her. "What the fuck?"

"I know, I always thought it was crazy!" she said, feeling relieved at his surprised reaction. "People are so stupid."

"Exactly. That's one reason I never leave here."

"Never leave? You had to have left sometime."

"Only a couple of times a month before my dad ditched me." That's where he left the subject lingering while Andromeda's mind reeled with questions.

One question she couldn't help asking on impulse. "No offense, but why is this place so… um…"

"Freaking messy?" he finished for her.

"Yeah." In the darkness she could make out the details of his face, see the short fuzzy shaven hair like a ribbon from his forehead to the upper nape of his neck.

"I just didn't feel like I should clean anything if I'm the only one living here. It doesn't bother me."

"Why are there rips and tears in everything?" she continued.

"My dog shredded my stuff before he ran away." His reply was blunt.

She said, "Hmm," and then was quiet. She'd run out of things to ask.

"So how'd your brother get mixed up with Bust and his gang of fags?" Ezekiel inspected a rather large hole in a pair of jeans.

"Who's that?"

"That's the group that jumped your big bro."

"Oh… I have no idea. He was just on his way to an art show in Milwaukee and that's the last I saw of him."

"Hmm…" he hummed. "From what _I _saw, his tire was pretty flat and he pulled over to… maybe get some help from someone in a certain trailer." He raised one thin black eyebrow, looking incredibly charismatic as he did so.

Andromeda tried to piece together the things he was telling her. Perseus had been jumped by a gang of strange men, dragged into Ezekiel's trailer, and hospitalized with a severe leg wound. She suspected, from the shape and location of the wound, he'd been stabbed to prevent escape.

"How," she asked, "did you chase away a gang of big guys?"

He kind of faltered; his mouth opened but the words didn't come out. His hand ran candidly across his fuzzy head. "I had a gun on me… and I threatened to shoot them if they didn't back off."

"Well, thank you. You likely saved his life."

"Ehh, whatever."

She stood, stretched, and exhaled contently. "I should be getting home now. My brother's coming home tomorrow, so I don't want to be tired. Thank you again."

"Yeah, sure. Hey, sorry I tackled you that one night. It was kind of a… an instinct." He cleared his throat.

"It's okay. I deserved it," she said, smiling at him. "You think I could come back sometime? I had fun."

He bit his lip. "I guess, yeah. But you have to come over after sunset, or else people will know someone actually lives here, and I can't deal with that."

"I can manage that." She stepped out the door onto the porch steps. "Bye, Ezekiel."

"Bye, Andro… mella."

"Close enough." And she started back along the deserted street. She heard the trailer door shut tightly behind her. A giddy, childish feeling filled her chest while her heart continued to slam against her ribs. She almost felt like skipping home, like Dorothy down the Yellow Brick Road. Perhaps this mysterious boy could be her friend…

She'd entered her yard when she saw the porch light on, the screen door slightly ajar.

Perseus couldn't be home yet, and even if he was, he would have closed the door. Drawing her knife, Andromeda approached her own house, pushed aside the screen, carefully took a step inside and yelled, "Who's in here?"

"Whoa!" she heard from the living room.

Her knife was aimed and ready to throw as the intruder emerged into the kitchen.

"Holy crap!" Gabriel shrieked, leaning against the wall. "Andy, what're you trying to do? Scare me shitless? And put that knife down before you hurt yourself!"

The light happiness she'd felt was gone instantly. Scowling, she lowered the weapon. "I'd be more worried about me hurting you. What the hell are you _doing_ here?"

"Waiting for you to get home, of course." He straightened his red cap and tugged on his long blue t-shirt. "I came to say I'm sorry for how I acted earlier."

"Hmm… that's shocking." She strolled past him to the fridge and pulled out a can of root beer.

"I'm sorry, Andy, I didn't mean to drag your past into this. You've gotta understand, I'm worried about you."

"Could you worry a little less? I'm sixteen, Gabe, and I have an overprotective brother. I don't need _you_ watching over everything I do. You're no guardian angel."

"That's not the point!" he yelled, stamping a foot.

"Quit pouting, you baby."

"Andromeda," he said in a serious tone, "I put up with you because you're my best friend. It's always been that way. If something happened to you, I'd kill myself."

"I'm fine, Gabe. Calm down. Now, I can forgive you but you need to quit worrying so much. You're not a parent, you're not a guardian angel, you're not a brother, a cop, or a bodyguard. You need to take a breath and realize you can't _try_ to protect me forever. It was nice back on the playground in elementary school, but I'm growing up now. I've got to protect _myself_, or I'll never be able to in the future."

He stared at her. No, he stared _through_ her. His expression was blank, but she knew she'd gotten him thinking.

"You're right," he finally said. "I've been living in the past. You're a strong, free-spirited woman. You can take this world on your own."

"Thank you, Gabe. I like that you can be my best friend."

He smiled half-heartedly at her. "So anyway," he changed the subject unexpectedly, "why were you out and about at this time of night?"

"I went to visit the trailer-boy again. I had to apologize to him for intruding on his property."

Gabriel pursed his lips like he wanted to say something really angrily but he kept his mouth shut. "I can see you're okay, so that's good."

"Mmhmm. And I have my knife on me all the time for self-defense. Turns out the kid's really nice. His name is Ezekiel."

"I see." He sighed heavily. "Look, it's cool with me that you've made a new friend, but do you really have to go visit him at, like… midnight? I'm not saying you would do anything, but what if he advances on you?"

"Gabriel!"

"Sorry! I'm just wondering!" he said defensively. "But I want you to make me a new promise: don't get hurt. That's all I ask. Promise me?"

"I promise."

"On your life?"

"On my life."

"Okay…" Gabriel moved to the door. "I trust you this time, Andromeda. If you ever do need me, you have my number." He walked out, the screen door bounced against its frame, and the house was then quiet.


	6. The Rumor

**Short chapter, read and review please. -- Mandy**

The following day, Perseus arrived home on crutches. He'd needed stitches and a tetanus shot, but he would have the threads removed in a week or two.

Andromeda ran to her brother and threw her arms around him, though she was careful not to knock him off his supporting sticks.

"How were things while I was gone?" he asked her as they stood in a sibling hug on the front lawn.

"They were quiet, kind of boring," she lied, deciding against telling Perseus about her encounters with Ezekiel. "I missed you, Percy. Do you remember what happened?"

"Not really…" He frowned thoughtfully. "I only knew there were… four men, and they all came at me at once. Then… blank."

"Well, you're okay now. Too bad you missed the art show though… I know you would've won."

"Actually there's another one next month in Madison. They're offering a grand prize of three hundred dollars, plus the offers of whoever wants to buy it."

"When is it?"

"In a month, in the middle of July. And in a week I can get back to work down at the shoe store so we'll have some good spending money."

"Is Uncle Geoff still sending us mortgage money?" asked Andromeda. Because jobs in Bluestone were fairly scarce, and Perseus worked merely as an employee at Norma Beth's shoe store, their wealthy uncle in New York sent them money to pay off the house and utilities, along with Perseus's salary to pay for groceries. Andromeda had applied for a job at the smoothie parlor but they hadn't called back, and she couldn't work at the library because it barely got any customers.

"Yeah, he's sending us some more at the end of June. But I was thinking of making this art show trip a bit of a summer getaway? I mean, how often do you get to go to the state capitol? Ah, it'll be a lot of fun! You and me and art and shopping and staying in a hotel and eating out and watching movies until four A.M."

"Percy, we _always_ watch movies 'til four A.M."

"Then we'll watch _more_ movies. On pay-per-view, even. It'll be so much fun."

In all honesty, Andromeda would love a trip into Madison with her brother. They had a close bond already, and this would bring them closer. Also, it would allow her to get away from Gabriel and his paranoia for a few days.

Later, she went to the library to renew her checked-out book. Due to her previous investigation of the trailer-boy, she'd missed out on her daily reading. For three hours that afternoon, she sat in her room on her comfortable bed with _City of Bones_ resting on her knees while she read its vast amount of interesting pages.

Once evening came around, she made a dinner of macaroni and cheese with a side of bag-frozen French fries for her and Perseus. Then, after his nightly hour of television, she told him to sleep on the couch instead of fighting the stairs to his room. He took his pain pills, settled down on the sofa, and soon he was deep in slumber.

Making sure he was asleep, she crept to the door and quietly exited her house.

At Ezekiel's trailer that night, he listened as she spoke of the people she knew. She also mentioned the trip to Madison when Perseus's leg healed up. She was bothered slightly by the untidiness of the living space but she never mentioned it to him.

An hour passed before she found herself sleepy and she said goodbye. Her knife was within reach, should she need it, but she made it home safe.

As quiet as she'd been when she had left, she crept inside, silently shutting and locking the door, then made her way upstairs to her room, where she crawled into bed and fell asleep instantly.

Her next few days progressed in very similar ways. On only one of those days did she see Gabriel, and only so she could turn down another date request from Carson. Gabriel's elusiveness bothered her. _If he wants to feel sorry for himself, he should grow up_, she thought. _And if he wants to hide his worrying, he should quit staring at me all the time._

And on her way to the library, a route which passed his house, she noticed him watching her while he was mowing his lawn. He was so busy staring at her that he accidentally drove the mower up onto the base of the maple tree in his front yard. The loud noise it made jerked him back from his daze and he tugged the thing onto the grass.

As he continued mowing, she rolled her eyes and resumed her walk. _What a moron._

When she passed the shoe store, Brittney and Amanda swaggered out, both carrying two bags of new shoes, and Andromeda sensed something odd. The girls were whispering amongst each other, their make-up-soaked eyes on her.

Ignoring it, she kept walking. The book was nestled safely under her arm and she was eager to read the sequel.

"Hey!"

She turned to see Brittney, short and stout with chocolate hair swirled up in a huge messy bun and pale green eyes decorated with slanted Asian-style eyeliner, and Amanda, even shorter and red-haired with a face caked in foundation. They had expressions of awe, as if they were staring into a random bucket of ranch dressing rather than a pretty blond girl.

"Oh, hi," Andromeda said, barely decimally interested.

"Is it… true?" babbled Amanda.

"Is… what true?"

Brittney lifted the bags higher on her shoulders. "We heard you've met the wolf-boy in the old trailer."

Andromeda scowled, "Where'd you hear that from?"

"We just did. Is it true?"

"There's no 'wolf-boy'." She thought briefly about Ezekiel living alone in privacy long before he'd met her. It probably should stay that way. "There's no one living in that trailer. It was abandoned years ago. There's nothing but mice and bugs in there now."

Amanda made a face of disgust. "Ewww!"

"Exactly." Andromeda turned to resume her stroll home. Behind her, though, she heard Brittney mutter,

"Wow, maybe Carson was wrong."

Andromeda stopped, mid-step, and whirled around. "Stop the presses; it was Carson who told you that?"

Brittney's orange nose scrunched up. "Um, yeahhh… why?"

Without answering, Andromeda was on her way to the smoothie parlor.


	7. The Source

**Short chapter :) enjoy --Mandy**

It didn't matter where Carson went; he was constantly followed by a group of estrogen-radiating young women. Whether it was his looks—wiry electric blond hair above emerald eyes, skin as tan as desert sand, such finely-drawn facial features that any girl within sight's range of him would stop and stare, double-take, or make an approach. And everyone, even the guys, knew about his perfectly-carved body—the chiseled six-pack of abdominals, the shapely figure, the defined pelvic bones—because there wasn't a week out of the summer that he didn't spend at least one day sun-tanning on the caramel-colored beaches of Lake Michigan.

Of course, with every too-handsome man, there's an arrogant, narcissistic, pompous attitude that never hides. Carson knew very well how he affected the ladies, and this power he exploited for his own benefits, from using them to buy him food to talking them into taking off their tops. He was the single most manipulative, self-absorbed man-prostitute who ever left a sperm stain in the Bluestone hotel.

However, Andromeda was probably the only female in that town who wasn't attracted to him in any way, shape, or form.

She stormed through the parlor doors. When Carson wasn't at Lake Michigan allowing the beach inhabitants their viewing pleasure, he was in the smoothie shop effortlessly appealing to the poor, unsuspecting women who were foolish and unfortunate enough to be subdued by his charms.

Sure as June comes after May, there he sat in a booth holding a half-drank lime-cherry blend with one hand while his other arm was coiled around the shoulders of Katey Gale, one of the school's most notorious and sought-after cheerleaders. The shock factor of his choice (not really a shock) was that her stringy hair was unnaturally and near-blindingly blond; it was so blond it was practically white, like a light bulb.

Andromeda crossed the room to the designated table. Arms crossed over her chest, she spoke, "Carson, may I have a word with you?"

At the sight of her, Carson broke into a smirk. Katey gave her a cold look.

"Yeah, you certainly may, Miss Ambrose." He got up, seeming to forget that Katey was even there, and moved to step uncomfortably close to Andromeda, so she could smell his abuse of cologne. "Did you come to finally be mine?"

"No, I'm here because I heard you told Amanda Larson and Brittney Thomer that I hang out with a _wolf-boy_."

"Whoa, cool it, babe." Carson's voice was sultry and unshaken. "I was only passing on what I heard from Gabe."

Andromeda's mind sparked. She almost couldn't believe what she'd just heard. "Gabriel told you this?!"

"Yeah, but whatever, huh? Let's go to the lake, babe."

She didn't give him the time. She was already out the door.

On her way down the sidewalk, Andromeda literally ran right into Gabriel, knocking him off his skateboard and onto the sidewalk, rear-first.

He opened his eyes to see her deep blue ones. "Oh… hey, Andy. Why're you in a hurry--!"

She gripped the collar of his t-shirt and yanked his face right up to hers. "What's the matter with you?"

"What'd I do?!"

"You told Carson about me going to investigate that trailer?!"

"Yeah, so?"

"So! He's telling every female he comes in contact with! And you know how that'll turn out!" She let go of his shirt but she didn't let him stand. "Why'd you even say anything Gabe? Why would you _do_ that?"

"I-- ugh… I don't know."

"You're not supposed to tell people that! They'll believe _anything_."

"Wha…?"

"They think I've met the 'wolf-boy'," she said, using her fingers for emphasis. "Now people might go try to bug Ezekiel. That's the last thing he needs!"

"Why are you still going over there anyway? You know who lives there, but you're _still_ not satisfied!"

"It's not your business what I do in my free time. If you can't keep your nosy boyish… nose… out of where it doesn't belong, or keep your mouth shut even when you don't want to, then I'm not telling you things anymore!" She stood, tugged her shirt down in the back, and left him there.


	8. The Walk

**Getting pretty romantic :) chapter eight here! --Mandy**

Clouds spread over the dark skies of Bluestone, thick as milk and covering every star above. A quiet breeze made the trees rustle their leaves softly while crickets sang a lively melody among the grass.

Andromeda traveled down the now-familiar empty road. She'd prepared a small batch of fluffy white cupcakes which she laced with homemade frosting and garnished with multicolored candy sprinkles.

At the trailer door she knocked, Ezekiel gave her his typical "go away", she mentioned who it was, and he then allowed her to enter.

"I brought you a treat today," she said cheerfully.

"Oh, goodie," he replied with a dull, dry humor.

When she opened the box and presented a cupcake before his face, he frowned. "What the hell _is_ it?"

"A cupcake. It's food. Try it."

As if he were taking a beaker containing a highly toxic substance from a less-than-reliable lab assistant, he cautiously grabbed the pastry. He sniffed it, looked thoughtful, and simply stared at it.

"Go on," she coaxed, "take a bite."

Reproachfully Ezekiel's thin rosy lips neared the sweet food. His tongue flicked out to test the frosting, and when he appeared to approve of it, he bit into the muffin top.

Andromeda was filled with satisfaction at the sight of him taking a second bite, then a third, then four. Soon he had what was left of the cupcake smeared all over his chin. Licking his fingers, he met her surprised gaze.

His pupils were dilated. "Got more of those?"

She gave him the box, which he practically attacked. He took such a huge chunk out of one cupcake that half of it was already gone. She watched him with a growing intrigue; he ate them like some kind of… animal. Even the way his teeth impaled the soft dough reminded her of a predator shredding its prey.

It didn't take more than twenty seconds for all three other cupcakes to be devoured. By the time they vanished, he was running his tongue across his sticky moist fingers and over his frosting-coated lips. It was an innocent gesture, but the sight of his tongue made Andromeda want to lick her own lips.

"Ohhh, _dude_," he swooned, smiling wide. "Those were awesome. How'd you make them?"

"Um… in the oven."

"Really? Hmm… I should try that." He sucked on his fingers happily. "Yummm…"

"So, Ezekiel," she began carefully, "no one's ever come in here for you, right?" She slipped her sweatshirt off her arms.

He raised a dark eyebrow at her motion, "What, you stripping for me?"

She stopped as her sweatshirt fell to the floor. "Ew, no, it's just hot in here."

"Because of me."

"Sure." Heat blazed in her cheeks as she subconsciously agreed with his statement. "But no one's ever come in here for you, right?"

He thought for a moment, his index finger pensively prodded between those hauntingly perfect lips. "I've been bothered a few times by that gang, or some stupid little boys halfway between their video-game-to-porn stages, and some other assholes, but I just sit here and ignore them."

"You didn't ignore Perseus," she pointed out.

"The dude was gonna die, I couldn't let that happen." His tongue wriggled between his fingers again, over his petite lips, and along the sides of his mouth. "But I'm no hero, so don't call me one."

"I won't call you one, but I'll always consider you a hero."

He snorted. "Whatever."

Andromeda moved to a boarded window and peeked through a crack. "It's so nice out right now. Do you think we could go for a walk?"

"Hmm…?" He took the rainwater pitched from the fridge and sprinkled some over his sticky hands. "That sounds cool. Okay."

She was filled by that giddy warm feeling that made her heart speed up drastically. The instant liking she had for this boy had taken mach-4 velocity to an immeasurable affection. She barely remembered anything from earlier that day—Carson's denial, Gabriel's big mouth, Brittney and Amanda's obnoxious voices. All her mind could fathom at the moment was Ezekiel, his peculiar beauty, and his natural elegance.

The door was opened to the warm night and Andromeda stepped out among its serenity. Somewhere in the grass chirped an orchestra of crickets. An owl cooed mournfully high upon the tree canopies. Off to the west, the sounds of the town echoed about the stillness.

Andromeda waited for him as he tightly shut the trailer door, then he fell into pace beside her.

"It _is_ nice out," he said in a low, husky, almost relaxing voice, as he looked up at the clearing of leaves above the road.

"I love nights like this." She took a deep whiff of the warm air. "They're so calm and peaceful."

"I don't really see these nights too often."

"Why not?"

"Because I never leave. I sleep most of the d-- night, sometimes I lift a few weights, but I never really go places anymore."

"And why's that?"

He frowned, "I don't quite know if I can trust you."

"You can," she said, "but you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." Truthfully she was dying to know what he was hiding, but she respected him too much to pry.

"Maybe someday."

She glanced at him beside her. In the night's cloudy darkness Ezekiel looked majestic. Every angle of his handsome face was softly lit by a distant streetlight down the road; his eyes were deep blue like an ocean, indescribably gorgeous. She noticed he held his head up when he walked, a style that may define a proud nature in his mind. The dim evening made his skin appear perfectly smooth. Her sapphire gaze was locked upon him while she wondered… _Does he even know how attractive he is?_

"So what's life like in the city?" he asked, awakening her from her thoughts.

"What? Oh! Well, it's not really a city, but town life isn't all too glamorous. I just go to school in the fall, take trips to the library during the summer, and hang out with my brother for the rest of the time." She sighed quietly. "I'm such a nerd. My life revolves mostly around reading."

He scoffed. "You _are_ a nerd."

"Thanks…" She pushed her long blond hair behind her ear. "There isn't really anything better to do, though. We have to be careful with money because I don't work, and we're living off my rich uncle's cash."

"Doesn't your brother work?"

"Yeah, for minimum wage at a shoe store," she told him.

"Hey, it could be worse, you know. You could be fucking broker than a hobo and drink rainwater because you don't have money to pay for your own city water or electricity."

She stared at him. "You're referring to yourself, right?"

"No shit." He seemed to study her from head to toe, her soft refined face and its bonny features—depthless cobalt eyes, flawless skin free of blemishes, lush pink lips—to her thin dainty body, the subtle curve of her waist and the slender shape of her legs.

She caught his gaze on her but he didn't bother to look away.

"I used to go to school," he said randomly.

"You did? Here?"

"Only for a few weeks, but then I quit because of my parents. They pulled me out so I could clean the trailer and stuff with my sister, and… yeah. Plus I just didn't wanna stay in school."

Andromeda thought for a few seconds. So he was a truant orphan who lived alone in an old dingy trailer, but what had happened to his parents?

She didn't need to know. It was his business, not hers.

Something unexpectedly popped into her thoughts. Her tongue pressed against her teeth to repress her wanting to speak, though she couldn't help asking, "What about your dog?"

Ezekiel nearly tripped but caught himself and quickly regained his loping gait. "What about him?"

"Why'd he run away?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, I couldn't read his mind. He trashed the place and left, that's all I know."

"What kind of dog was he?"

A Ssss… German shepherd." He sounded unsure, but she assumed it was his memory escaping him and she decided she ought to change the subject.

"I can't wait for our trip next month," she said happily. "Have you ever been to Madison?"

"Nope." He stared ahead down the lurid highway. "I've lived here for maybe a year now. The reason I'm still here is because… I'm on my own without a dime to my name."

A wave of immense sympathy washed over her. This poor man didn't deserve to be in such a state of despair. "You know, you _could_ come live with my brother and me." She could feel her cheeks flush timidly.

"That'd be pretty weird," he said, appearing meditative. "But it's nice of you, thanks."

"Do you want us to send you some money for food?"

"No, I trap rabbits and stuff, or I just don't eat until I get an animal. It's simple."

"It's horrible!"

He smirked sideways at her. "Hey, I'll bet there's hundreds of people out there who have it a lot worse than I do."

"That's not the point. You could get a job, you could have money. You don't have to sit in that trailer all day hiding from the world."

His glance toward her was a glare. "No, I can't get a job." He sounded offended.

"Why? Were you fired from one before?"

"No, I just _can't_. Let's drop it there, leave it alone, it's done." He continued walking even after she stopped.

"I think you're lazy," she said firmly. "You don't _want_ money. You _like_ being all alone in a trailer because it makes people wonder about you and fear you. It makes you feel _special_."

He whirled upon her so abruptly that the only reason she didn't scream was because she swallowed it down. The expression on his normally-serene face was angry, somewhat feral. She was worried he would hit her.

"You think I _hide_ in that damn metal box all my life on purpose, you're _dead_ _wrong._ And I don't need little annoying _freaks_ coming by and telling me that what I do is _stupid_. I don't have a choice, and if you actually _knew_ me, you'd have figured out why." He started walking back the way they'd come.

Seeing him react that way made her feel awful for saying such rude things. "But I _want_ to know you."

He faltered. His head turned toward her slightly, watching her from his peripheral vision. He appeared distraught, maybe even conflicted, because he didn't charge onward. "Why?"

"I want to be your friend, Ezekiel."

This made him turn to face her, his expression blank. His mouth creased like he was having trouble with whatever it was he wanted to say. He shuffled his feet on the pavement, choosing his words carefully.

"Friends are dangerous things," he murmured.

"I can take risks, and you can, too."

"Why are you so fucking determined to be my friend?"

Her stomach swirled with a mixture of anxiety and affection. She wanted to hug him, go tell him that he wasn't alone anymore. He wouldn't be, for as long as they lived. "Because I care," she finally said. "And I'm sorry I said those things to you. It wasn't right to judge you."

"Yeah, no kidding."

She ignored the comment. "I would like the opportunity to know you better, if you'd give me a chance. Please, Ezekiel?"

He blew a heavy sigh out his nose. Standing there in the dark, he looked like a model's shadow, his body shape even more bewitching in the absence of a light source.

"All right." His arms folded across his chest. "Remember, though, you know nothing about me. Actually, there's no one living in the trailer. I do not exist, okay?"

"I got it," she agreed. "I've already denied your existence to a couple of preps from my school."

"Then we're getting off to a good start." He gestured for her. "Come on, let's head back. It's getting pretty late."

"Okay." She trotted to his side and they began walking.

On the way they spoke of the way people were, how annoying and intrusive some were, how they weren't kind anymore, there was always some stupid reason for them to be rude. She assured him she'd never met anyone like him before, and he confirmed her thoughts with a brief, "Sure as hell, you haven't."

He climbed the short three steps to his trailer door and turned. "Well, that was cool," he said.

"Yeah, I liked tonight." She shuffled in place; her hands weaved together, her cheeks flushing to an unseen shade of pink. "You're a really good person."

"Ha!" He sounded very amused. "Wow, you _really_ don't know me."

"You're a bad person?"

"You'd be surprised."

She thought he was being modest, but she wasn't sure. With a smile she faced the direction of her path home. "Is tomorrow night okay for you?"

"Why not? I have nothing to do, anyway."

"Cool, maybe I'll bring another treat."

"If it's anything like those whatever-they-were tonight, then make a thousand."

She smiled and started away. "Goodbye, Ezekiel."

"Bye, Andromeda."

And she was thrilled by the way her name sounded in his voice.


	9. The Spies

**This is a loooooong chapter. I hope this is a good story; personally, I like it :) enjoy! --Mandy**

Dreaming was a pleasure for Andromeda that night. During it she befriended the trailer boy and they were roaming the woods together, hand-in-hand. Eventually the dream progressed to a different setting; her house, her room, her bed, where she sat watching as he approached her slowly, a smile of desire on his angelic face. Strong arms pinned her to the bed while his thin muscular body covered hers, and as his lovely lips came but a finger's breadth from her own, she was forcibly wrenched from her dream by Perseus calling up the stairs, "Breakfast!"

Groaning, she rolled onto her stomach and shook the tangled blond curls from her sleepy eyes. _What a dream,_ she thought with a scoff. The more affectionate half of her was currently in battle against the sinful side, arguing endlessly about the ratio of potential love versus lust. Their results were making her head hurt.

She disregarded it, crawled out of bed, and gathered fresh clothes for after her shower.

On her way out of her room, something caught her eye. Lying in a heap near her work desk was the sweatshirt she'd removed at Ezekiel's trailer, and a grimy crumpled napkin lay beside it with a nearly-illegible pen-written message.

"You left this at my place," it read, "thought I'd be nice and return it. Leave it again and I'm not gonna be such a gentleman, so remember your stuff next time, stupid." It wasn't signed, but she knew, of course, who it was. _Which means,_ she thought in astonishment, _he left his trailer. And more importantly, he came into my house… into my room…_ At first she considered that perhaps her dream hadn't just been a dream, but she knew she would've woken up. How he'd gotten in, she had no idea; she must've left the door unlocked when she returned. Still, she couldn't help feeling good about everything she'd accomplished with him in the past week.

Andromeda showered, dressed, and went to eat a breakfast of pancakes and pork sausage.

As she was eating, Perseus smothered his own pancakes in a puddle of syrup and shoveled a forkful into his mouth. He still had two days on crutches, but he was already walking around without them.

"So Andy," he said through his chewed pancake wad, "are you still hanging out with Gabriel?"

A wave of anger washed over her. "Kind of. Why?"

"He called while you were in the shower and he mentioned you."

Andromeda stopped eating. Even if Gabriel _had_ said something about Ezekiel, she wasn't going to confront him again. She was mad enough at him.

"What'd he say?" she asked, only half-interested.

"He told me you're a little upset with him."

"Hmm, I wonder why he'd think that," she said, bitterly sarcastic.

"Are you?"

"Mmhmm," was her apathetic reply.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because he can't keep his mouth shut to save his life."

Perseus frowned. "What do you mean?"

"If I tell him a secret, he spews it to the whole town."

"What kind of secrets?"

She sighed in exasperation. "Just stuff I thought he might like to know. He's just a bigmouth."

"Maybe you should consult him about it."

"No, I already did." She stabbed her pancake, affronted, and took a resentful bite. "He's being a stupid stubborn jackass."

He stared at her incredulously. He'd never seen his sister so frustrated, especially over a good friend. Even at a young age, Gabriel and Andromeda would have childish fights over juvenile issues, but those were always resolved by apologies and a hug over some snacks and juice. Their issue now must have been serious for her to be this perturbed.

"Do you want _me_ to talk to him?" he offered.

"No, Percy, just stay out of it." She went to place her dishes beside the sink. "I'm going out shopping. Do you need anything?"

"Just the basics: milk, eggs, bread, some chips, and whatever else you want. But make sure you save some money for the trip in a few weeks."

Then she left.

The sun was hot above the town and the wind was swift. Trees in the sidewalk planters bent respectively to the breeze that flowed between the buildings. A few clouds overhead were quickly blown away for other ones, which followed like an assembly line.

Andromeda pushed her fluttering curls inside her sweatshirt hood. The air was how but the wind was warm, almost cool, so she was stuck in a debate whether to remove the sweatshirt or keep it on. Her mind strayed, though, and focused on her dream. Whenever she thought about it, a heat like the temperature blazed in her chest. She was eager to visit the trailer again.

At the grocery store, while she was browsing the snack section, she received a text message. Flipping her phone open, she saw it was from Gabriel.

"Sorry i was a jerk. i just miss you hanging out with me. wanna come over? i rented a new movie."

In a pang of quilt and remorse, she set down her grocery basket to reply, "Ok i forgive you. i will come over when im done shopping."

--

After dropping off the groceries at home, Andromeda braved the wind to Gabriel's house. It was a larger house, not as big as hers, but average size for middle class, with tan siding and a wrap-around porch over-decorated by potted plants, courtesy of his mother. They used to be a richer family until his mother quit her job in real estate while his dad remained a successful businessman.

Gabriel was waiting for her on his porch when she appeared in his front yard. Wearing his baggy gray "I'm allergic to idiots" t-shirt and blue basketball shorts, he looked more ready to head to the gym than watch a movie with his female best friend.

"Hey, Chuck Norris," she teased as she hopped up the porch steps.

He smiled. His gaze was all over her body—a fitting purple t-shirt and boot-cut jeans framed her figure nicely.

"Hi, Andy. Uh… I rented _Ice Age 3_." He frantically smoothed his messy sand-colored hair.

"Cool. Listen, Gabe, I know you're sorry, so can you keep my secrets from now on? I want to trust you again."

"Yeah, definitely. I was just being stupid. Maybe it was some kind of guy-menstruation thing."

She smiled, "I wouldn't doubt that. Let's go watch that movie."

--

The basement of Gabriel's house was large enough to fit a locomotive engine. He had a whole section of it resembling a movie theater—large flat-screen television, four recliners and two beanbag chairs, surround-sound speakers, and a popcorn maker he bought cheap from a friend who worked at the actual theaters in town.

Andromeda had made herself comfortable on one of the cozy chairs and laid there almost completely silent for the whole movie, except when she laughed at humorous scenes. Once the first movie was over, he suggested they watch another, and she kindly agreed.

Four hours had gone by when Andromeda finally stood up, stiff and drowsy. "I should get home. It's about suppertime."

Gabriel brushed spilled popcorn off his lap. "You wanna stay here for supper?"

"No, I don't want to be a bother." She laughed softly at him; he'd fallen asleep during the movie _Finding Nemo_ and his popcorn had been knocked over on him. Hastily he shook his shirt of popped kernels, embarrassed. "Besides," she said, "I need to fix something for Perseus to eat. I don't like the fact that he's walking around on that leg before he's supposed to. If he falls, the cut could split open again."

"Yeah, you're right." He sighed quietly. "You gonna visit What's-His-Face tonight? The wo-- trailer-boy?"

"Probably after Percy goes to bed. Why?"

"Just wondering. Be careful, okay?"

"He's a nice guy, Gabe, he'd--"

"No, I'm not worried about him. It's that gang. If they attacked Perseus, they'd go get you for sure, only it'd be worse because you're a girl."

"I haven't seen them since that day we first went there, and even if I do now, Ezekiel could scare them off again somehow." She once more thought of her dream.

"Well, don't count on him for everything. He won't always be there when you need him. But you know that I will."

"Thanks, Gabe. I'll remember that." She smiled gratefully at him. He was so different around her than he used to be in school, or when he was around his friends. Instead of being a loud girl-ogling moron, he was almost a gentleman with her. She considered it an improvement from his preteen days of eating spaghetti with his hands, farting when they were in the same place during hide-and-seek, or poking her repeatedly on the shoulder in math class so she'd turn around a hundred times with a harsh "What?" so he could sit and giggle and say, "Nothing".

As angry as she had been at him for his immaturity about Ezekiel, she could forgive him for it because he cared, truly cared for her. If she had someone she deeply cared for like that, she'd probably act the same way.

"So… I guess you ought to get going, huh?" Gabriel mumbled.

"Yes. Thank you for this, it made me feel better."

He perked up a bit. "That's good. Let's do it again sometime."

"Okay."

They made their way to the front door, where he stopped while she moved out onto the porch. His shirt billowed across his torso from the still-blowing wind, showing off his slender chest and abdomen. His tawny hair swept wildly to the direction the gusts were going. All this she noticed randomly.

"Bye," she said, peeling the fluttering blond hair from her cheek. "Or rather, good night."

"Night." He watched pensively after her as she strolled down his yard path and away down the street.

--

Perseus fell asleep around eleven o' clock once his TV shows ended, and he lay snoozing deeply on the sofa. At this time, Andromeda silently snuck out of the house with a backpack. The wind persisted, much cooler now due to its being night. With her sweatshirt tightly clung to her body, she walked onward under an inky, starry sky.

The trailer sat like a great metallic white beacon among the dancing trees. The absence of light made it appear somewhat haunting.

Halfway down the deserted highway, Andromeda paused. She could've sworn she'd heard something… a tapping of shoe on pavement, a faint whispering…

A gust of wind swirled around her, chilly and foreboding. It made the leaves flutter with thin crisp papery sounds. Assuming what she heard had been the breeze, she continued walking without looking back.

The trailer steps creaked their usual greeting to her as she went to knock. Typical as usual, she heard his irritable "get lost!" and addressed him in her soft melodious voice. He recognized her, unlocked the door, and let her inside.

"Good evening, Ezekiel," she joyously said.

"Did you bring me cupcakes this time?"

"I didn't have time today. I was over at my friend's house watching movies for four hours."

"I see how it is," he growled, pretending to be offended.

"But I brought something else for us to do today." She dropped the backpack beside the door and bent to fish out its contents.

Ezekiel curiously leaned forward in attempt to see whatever it was.

When she turned around, he saw her arms full of supplies: furniture polish, Febreze, a couple big trash bags, rubber gloves, rags, scrubbing brushes, sponges, a stain-removing chemical, and paper towels.

He shook his head but didn't take his gaze off her. "You can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious." She put on some rubber gloves and threw a sponge at him. "Let's get to work."

For the next few hours, they spent their time cleaning the trailer's main room. Ezekiel reluctantly scooped the trash into one of the large garbage bags—the cereal boxes, the half-eaten food items, the empty cans and snack wrappers—while Andromeda piled the filthy laundry into the far room corner where she'd deal with it later. In the meantime she polished the coffee table she never knew was there, swiped the dust off the shelves and out of cupboards, wiped the counter clean. However, she wasn't sure how to clean the dishes, since Ezekiel had no running water. For the time being, she decided to leave them alone, though they gave off a rather foul odor.

She was scrubbing the carpet of its stains when a massive spider skittered past her hand. Alarmed, she jumped back with a shrill yelp.

Ezekiel, who'd been picking apathetically at a hole in the wall, whirled around. "What?"

"There's a huge spider…" she whispered shakily. "…right there, on the floor." Her shaking finger pointed to the motionless brown arachnid.

Normally she didn't mind spiders. But this one, with its legs, was about as large as the rim of a coffee mug. It seemed to be staring her down as she cowered against the wall.

Ezekiel rolled his eyes, "Wow…" He lifted a leg, his shoe looking particularly large in the dark, and brought it down hard, but he missed the spider, which crawled swiftly off across the now-empty carpet.

Then, at a speed faster than Andromeda had ever seen a human move, he jumped over four feet to the wall where the creature had fled. It scurried away, toward Andromeda, who stood with her back to one of the boarded windows.

He leaped again, landing not far from her or the spider, but he knocked down a stool with a small box on top. At least a dozen or so beetles evacuated the box and made a mad dash for a hole in the wall.

This was too much. Andromeda screamed bloody murder, just as Ezekiel caught the spider under his enormous shoe; its slimy innards gushed onto the floor.

She grimaced.

So did he. He raised his foot to observe the sludge sticking from his shoe to the linoleum of the kitchen. "Yuck…" he grunted.

"Oh, my gosh," she sighed. "Thank you so much…"

"Yeah, yeah," he was grumbling as he used the sponge to clean the goo.

"You see now what's been thriving here? Do you know how _gross_ it is?"

"Hey, it doesn't bother _me_." He swiped up the remnants of spider with a paper towel.

Andromeda ran her fingers uneasily through her long spirals of hair. _What if more spiders lurked in the other parts of the trailer like Ezekiel's room_, she thought as she got up.

_Ooh, Ezekiel's room…_

Suddenly the board on the window she was near dropped from its position and landed with a loud thud behind her. She cried out, frightened, lunging toward him.

"Chill out, you blonde, you just knocked a board loose," he said, prying her off him.

"I thought someone fired a gun at me."

"It would've been a lot louder." He flinched, maybe idled a moment, to let his senses sharpen.

"It still sc--"

"Shh!" He put a slender finger to his voluptuous lips. At first she thought he was aggravated, but she detected tension in his gesture. He was rooted on the spot, his skeptical expression looking as though it had been slapped on his face.

She mouthed the words, "What is it?"

He simply tapped his lips before he was stationary once more.

She listened.

At first there was nothing, just the sound of the wind flowing around the trailer. Then she heard it—the faintest sound of footsteps scraping twigs.

He whispered, so quietly she almost didn't hear it, "There's someone outside."

"What do we do?" she asked shakily.

Swiftly yet silently he glided across the room to her. He took her hand, led her to the opposite corner, and shoved her down into the pile of clothes. Once she was sitting among the laundry, he crawled over her, laying his body on top of her own, and proceeded to cover them with the clothes.

"What're you doing?" she hissed.

"Shh!" he snarled. "We're hiding." He caught sight of a round shadow on the wall through a gap in the pile. He lowered his head right beside hers so she could feel the tickling sensation of his ear sweeping her hair.

The sound came again, and a dark figure appeared outside the window. They were peering inside, shifting as another shape rose next to it.

"Stay still and keep quiet," Ezekiel murmured on her earring.

Andromeda honestly couldn't think of any reason why she wouldn't obey his command. She was quite pleased. Her pulse hammered fiercely in her veins; she knew he could feel it against his own ribcage, for she could feel his heartbeat—slow, steady, like a drumbeat—pounding through his chest and into hers. His arms were guarding her on both sides, his legs the same way. She knew how close their hips were, and the thought made her cheeks burn and her spine tingle.

There was a noise outside, like muttering, as the shapes moved away from the window.

Ezekiel lifted himself slightly.

A knock on the door came next, and he leaned back down.

More silence, followed by another knock, then quiet again.

Andromeda heard Ezekiel swallow above her and she met his anxious gaze. His mouth tightly formed a line. His warm body made her feel secure there under the heap of laundry, hiding from whoever was outside. The sound of her own breathing filled her ears like a fast-forwarded ocean tide.

There was a third knock, more quiet talking, and then the door made a cracking noise.

Both hiding teens froze. Even their hearts seemed to stop beating.

"…if you're scared," a voice was saying.

"I don't think we should be here…"

"Shut up! You want the wolf-boy to hear us?"

Under the clothes pile, Ezekiel took a sharp breath through his nostrils. Andromeda did, too, but the smell of the laundry was a bit offensive to her. She pressed her nose into his hard shoulder and sniffed the faintly sweet scent of cologne in his shirt. He only glanced at her as he tuned into the conversation.

"This place smells gross," complained the first person, a man.

"We shouldn't be breaking in. We could get in big trouble."

"I told you 'shut up', man. There's not even anyone home."

"It's creeping me out…" This voice was more boyish, but still an older male. It was vaguely familiar to Andromeda. "If no one's home, we should go."

"Not until we find her."

Ezekiel whispered to her. "I need to get them out of here."

"No!" she snapped, holding onto him.

"I have a plan; don't worry." He slowly began to stand up. "But stay hidden."

She nodded as the warmth of his body faded away.

Then in a low, grumbling, ominous voice, he growled, "Get out."

The two boys jumped at the sound and stared at Ezekiel climbing out of the laundry pile.

"Who's there?" asked the older-sounding man.

"I said, 'get out'!" Ezekiel turned to face them, though Andromeda could still see his face, and she had to admit, he looked terrifying. His eyes were rolled back so only the whites were showing; his jaw was loosely hanging with a string of drool dribbling off his chin; his tensed hands clawed with twitching fingers that appeared to want to grab and crumple anything they touched. He looked so… dangerous.

The boys who she couldn't see yelled loud with fright.

"He's possessed!" cried the older man.

"He has rabies!" yelped the younger one.

Ezekiel's head fell back, the veins in his neck were clearly visible under his sallow skin, and his mouth jaggedly opened so more saliva dripped down onto his shirt, his colorless eyes made even more haunting by the absence of light. His hands clawed at the air as his chest lurched forward grotesquely, incoherent gurgling snarls emitting from his throat.

"Holy shit! I'm leaving!" The younger man slipped on the carpet, got up quickly, and stumbled down the steps of the trailer.

"Dude, come back!" The older male stood his ground. He wanted to reach for a weapon, but there wasn't one nearby.

Ezekiel shakily straightened himself. He hesitated like there was another part to his plan, but he couldn't improvise anymore.

Thinking fast, Andromeda drew the knife from her belt and fitted the handle into his hand.

He seemed like his plan was regenerated, and, holding the knife high, he spoke in a gritty tone, "Leave. Now. You don't belong here."

"I'm… not afraid of you…" the man said, though his words were uncertainly quavering.

"You will be." Ezekiel then released a growling noise so threatening that Andromeda could imagine horns and wings on him and he could pass for a dragon. He raised the knife again, behind his head, like a pitcher winding up for an impending strikeout. He swung, the blade left his hand, and it flew, spinning, toward the door.

Andromeda closed her eyes.

There was a clink, a crunch, a yell, and she peeked out through the pile at the person.

Ezekiel had struck the door not far from the stranger's head. The handle protruded from the wood, far enough in so the blade stuck.

In a blur Ezekiel made another inhuman leap from his location to the man's, where he stood for only a second before he shoved the guy clear of the steps and into the grass. Following this he slammed the door so fiercely that the knife fell out and dust spewed from the wooden doorframe, and he slid the chain lock into place. After all this was accomplished, he turned his head to her, a devilish grin on his immeasurably handsome face.

"I don't know who they were," he said, "but I scared the shit out of them."

Wiggling her way out from under the clothes, Andromeda got to her feet and brushed herself off. "What'd they look like?"

"The one I shoved was really big and blond and gross."

His description rang a faint bell for her. She frowned, processing the information.

"And…" He thought for a moment. "The other kid was a punk. He had gauged ears and looked like a total freak."

There was a rush of anger building inside her at the realization of who he'd seen.

It had been Carson and Gabriel. They'd been spying on her. But there was no shock at the news that it was Carson, but _Gabriel_.

"That little pinhead!" she yelled. "He promised to stay out of my freaking business! Oh, I'm gonna get him for this!"

"It really sucks now because they know someone lives here." Ezekiel picked up the knife. His voice was nonchalant, unfazed.

"Gabe already knew that. He was here the day my brother got jumped," she said as he handed her the blade.

"Well, the other dude didn't. And now he knows what I look like, so that just makes things worse." He spat a vicious wad of saliva into the sink.

"They won't do anything. But after _that_ performance, they probably think you need medical help. Or an exorcist."

He scowled. He looked like he wanted to say something but whatever it was wouldn't come out correctly. His hands twitched at his sides, but then he shrugged. "Where were we before you flipped shit over that spider?"

"Cleaning your house," she informed him.

They resumed with the sanitizing (for the most part, anyway) of Ezekiel's trailer. Andromeda cleaned what she could of the mud stains in the carpet, while Ezekiel lingered near the window to repair the fallen board. A few more hours went by before she found the place semi-presentable.

She glanced at her phone, "Well, I think we did good all in one night."

His expression tightened as he was pushing a dining chair into place. "What time is it now?"

"Six o-three," she said, yawning, "and I'm really tired. I should get home or Perseus will wake up and see me walk in."

"Yeah, you better go." He sounded hurried. "Thanks for cleaning up around here. It looks nice."

"No problem." She yawned again. "Will tomorrow night be cool, too?"

"Sure, dude, but you should go. I don't want you getting in trouble because of me." He unlocked and tugged the door open for her. "Good night."

"Good… night," she stuttered, on her way onto the steps.

Ezekiel anxiously poked his head out to see the sky. Above them the stars glittered on a navy-blue canvas of space. Far off to the east was the faint glow of the impending sunrise.

Andromeda moved hesitantly, wanting so badly to kiss those tantalizing red lips of his. She was exhausted, though, and she needed to get home before Perseus figured out she'd never left. Swallowing her desire, she smiled at him.

"See you later," she murmured sleepily.

"Yeah, see you." And he abruptly shut the door; the lock clicked from the inside. But she was too tired to care.

She could've fallen over on the side of the road and slept like a baby. But the recurrent thought of Perseus waking and checking her room to find her gone kept her feet going, almost on autopilot, so to speak.

Once home, she quietly unlocked the door, stepped inside, shut it and relocked it, strolled dazedly up the stairs to her room, and she dropped like a shot deer onto her bed.


	10. The Calm

**Oh, my gosh, has it been a LONG time. I'm SO SORRY. Well... I guess, this is all I've got for now. I'm almost graduated and my Senioritis has kicked in, so... I really don't know what to say. Fanfiction has kinda fallen into a box of things labeled "I'll Get To It Later"... For now, I'll leave you with this. Please enjoy the tenth chapter. I worked hard on it...**

**-Mandy-**

A mere four hours of sleep came to Andromeda that morning. When Perseus called for her around ten o' clock, she forced her tired eyelids open reluctantly. She ignored him at first, slept about twenty more minutes, and finally decided to start the day.

After a shower, she walked drowsily downstairs to the kitchen where Perseus had made her eggs and toast.

"Morning, Andie," he sang. He was in a cheerful mood.

She took a deep breath. The back door was open so a cool breeze could flow inside. The air smelled fresh of morning dew.

Perseus raised an eyebrow at her. "You look tired."

"I didn't sleep much…"

"How come?"

"Just a sleepless night," she said, remembering fondly when Ezekiel had laid over her. He wasn't James Marsden, but he was attractive and hard-edged, and as far as she was concerned, that was good enough. Every time she remembered the way it had felt lying underneath him, she felt an unfamiliar fire blazing in her stomach. It was the first time she could remember feeling desire for _any _guy.

When breakfast was finished, Andromeda returned to her room to sleep some more, which made her feel much better once she woke around two o' clock. Feeling refreshed, she strolled outside into the warm afternoon sun. There was almost not wind, only a gentle whisper of it to keep the hot day moderately bearable.

One of Andromeda's favorite things to do was climb the apple tree in her front yard. Today she felt great, and she pulled herself up into the higher branches so she could see down the street, beyond the town, where the hills were.

She loved those hills. They were the place she wanted to go most of anywhere in Wisconsin. And if she could someday go there, she wanted more than anything to go with Ezekiel.

As she was chewing a succulent red apple, she realized she'd forgotten to yell at Gabriel (again) for following her.

Rage blazed within her chest. He was going to get it.

She climbed down from the tree, and the instant her feet touched the grass she was running toward Gabriel's house.

Three angry knocks on the door and he answered, looking rather surprised at the sight of her.

"How could you?" were the first words she spoke.

He frowned, concerned, "How could I what?"

"You were spying on me! Gabriel, you told me you wouldn't pry anymore, you _promised_!" Tears of frustration were burning the backs of her eyes.

"Andie, I'm sorry, it wasn't-"

"You broke your promise, Gabe! I trusted you!"

"Hey, it was Carson's stupid idea about going to spy on the trailer and he almost literally _dragged_ me with! I _told_ him we should go home, that it was a dumbfuck idea, but he wouldn't listen. I went with because I didn't want him to get in trouble. Isn't that a good enough explanation?"

She stared—at his eyes, at his expression, at him—unable to find anything she could say. She began with "Oh…" but couldn't go further.

"I wouldn't break a promise with you, Andie. Why can't you believe me?" He looked insulted by her accusation. Did she really have to assume it was him without hearing his story first? Would she believe it, had he told her his side of it?

Her anger melted away into remorse. "I'm sorry. I'm just stressed; you have to bear with me. I didn't sleep much last night."

Gabriel's hazel eyes hadn't left hers since she'd arrived. He seemed conflicted in some way. "I could've stayed away, though. I didn't have to go with him. I just wanted to know if you were okay."

Again she could understand his reasoning for this. He cared about her; he was doing it out of friendship.

"I appreciate you trying to make him respect my privacy," she said to him, "it was very nice of you."

His eyes rose to meet hers again. "You think so?"

"Without a doubt." When she looked at Gabriel—really _looked_ at him—she saw the faint yellowish marks on his cheek from his last fight. They must've been a few days if not a week old.

"Do you wanna hang out today?" he asked timidly.

_Why not, _she thought,_ he deserves it for being so thoughtful… I think._

So for the next few hours, Andromeda and Gabriel traveled into the woods behind his house. Though they weren't as mysterious as the forest surrounding Ezekiel's trailer, they were hilly and wide, stretching from one end of town to the other. Some wrappers and firework shells littered the dirt while birds of several kinds darted from one tree to another.

The two teenagers walked through the woods, remembering the times when they were younger and would pretend the forest was enchanted, full of unicorns, trolls, centaurs, fairies, dragons, pixies, elves, and giants. And when Gabriel suggested they play a game of Magic Forest, just for old times' sake, she couldn't say no.

They spent all afternoon pretending to be warriors. Andromeda was a pond fairy who wielded a powerful jeweled staff (the jewel being an apple from Gabriel's apple tree that she stabbed onto the end of a huge stick) while Gabriel was a centaur with a mighty blade (a regular tree branch) who sought to slay the red dragon of the mountains because it was incinerating his village.

They were so engrossed in their game that by the time they went inside for dinner, the sun was already setting.

Gabriel's family had a habit of eating breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast, so they ate a "supper" of omelets and sausage links. Nostalgia filled Andromeda as she conversed with their family over the meal, like they would so long ago.

She looked behind her at the clock and her eyes widened.

"I should be heading home," she told then all, standing up from her place at the table. "Thank you very much for dinner."

When she left, the sun was low, crickets playing in a symphony somewhere buried among the grass, warm evening wind blowing gently on her face as she hurried home. She was more excited now to see Ezekiel, especially after playing childish games with Gabriel to fuel her imagination.

Popping into her house for only a second, she snatched her book _City of Bones_ off the counter where she'd been reading it.

"Hey," Perseus called, noticing her hurry, "what's the rush, Speedy Gonzales?"

"I'm visiting a friend for a while," she told him.

"What about supper?"

"I ate at Gabriel's." She dashed out the door with a brief goodbye.

The sun was gone by the time she reached the trailer. All around her the trees were quiet, the road as empty as always, the small house quaint and peaceful.

Andromeda knocked on the door, her heart racing with eager longing to see him. There were no words she could find to describe him, or the way she felt toward him.

No one replied after a few seconds, so she knocked again.

Still nothing.

"Ezekiel," she called, "it's me! Are you there?"

_Where would he go?_ She thought, downhearted. _He never leaves this place… does he? Well… he did to return my sweatshirt… hmm…_

"Ezekiel?" she yelled again, the book slipping from her grip, so she shifted it to her other arm. Carefully she turned the knob, gave the door a firm shove, and she stepped inside. The smell of pine-scented cleaner was potent in the musky trailer's air, the floor now clear enough to walk across without tripping.

She hesitated halfway into the room, feeling like as much of a trespasser as she had been the day she'd investigated the place. This time she had no bad intentions; she was there strictly for Ezekiel.

A door just beyond the kitchen caught her attention, the one where the strange boy had stood back when he'd found Perseus. As she stepped closer, she noticed it was ajar.

Something outside the trailer made a rustling noise, and her muscles tensed. If someone had followed her again, Ezekiel would be furious.

With a few careful steps she approached the still-open front door, only the book in her hand as a defense. She could've turned and ran for the room behind her, but something inside her wanted to defend herself. Something also reassured her that Ezekiel was at least near, within screaming distance.

There was a rustling noise, the click of shoes on wood, and she leaped back, knife held high.

"Whoa, fuck!" yelped Ezekiel's husky voice from the doorway as Andromeda staggered to her feet. He darted over the counter, a pale blur, half of him hidden behind it. "You're early!"

"And you're… naked?" _Oh, jeez…! He's gonna make me go crazy… _"Why are you naked?"

"I was washing clothes in the river!" She watched as he swiped for a pair of boxers on the floor and haphazardly tugged them on, though she saw nothing but his upper body behind the counter. He was creamy pale with light chest hair and ripples of sinewy muscle going down his arms and back.

"Um…" Good way to start a conversation… Her hand tightened around a small box in her pocket. "Have you ever had gum?"

"Yes, I've had gum before."

"You want some?"

"Sure."

While he began chewing, Andromeda realized she was still holding _City of Bones; _she held it up and said, "I brought a book."

"Joy…" muttered Ezekiel, who was in the process of putting on his shirt.

"No, it's a good book. I really think you should read it, or at least… let me read a little section of it to you."

"Why?"

Andromeda bit her lip. "Just because… it might make you think."

As she settled down in the now-clean couch, Ezekiel came to sit beside her, close enough that she could feel his arm brushing hers as he leaned over her shoulder to see into the page she had flipped to.

"That's a lot of words…" he said.

Ignoring him, she began to read one of her most favorite quotes in the book, one that went in depth about love. After reading the quote, she looked at him. His face was contorted into a thoughtful frown, like he was trying to decipher the words one by one.

"That's… weird."

She rolled her eyes and flipped through to another page and read another, but stopped with her hand on the page, conflicting emotions stilling her tongue.

"Ezekiel, about yesterday…" she began carefully, recalling the moment when they'd been hiding under the laundry, "I just wanted to tell you… I had never felt so good being so close to someone. I really wanted to..."

He shook his head. "Look... in any other situation, I wouldn't mind, but… I haven't… I haven't even _kissed_ someone for a really long time, and… I don't know if I'd be able to control myself with you."

"Really?" she asked, unsure of what he was saying. "Why?"

The sound of his sigh made Andromeda feel bizarrely calm.

"Because," he began, "you're… really pretty, and you care about me, and it's just… it's weird, you know? This is gonna sound bad… but you gave any less of a flying fuck about me, I probably would've…" He paused, sounding horrified at himself. "I probably would've done something terrible to you."

"I don't think that's true."

"It is. I have terrible self-control. I _get _horny, I _get_ angry, I _get_ impatient, I turn into a-" Here he swallowed too hard over the words and nearly choked. "…a monster."

There it was. It was a reference to the beast he'd been referred to as by so many people. Did they know it was just a figure of speech? Did they know that he was only considered a beast because of his temper, and because he _chose_ to remain away from society? Did anyone really put any thought into the fact that there was a hurting person living in this trailer house outside city limits, longing to be worth something in another person's life?

Taking a huge chance, she reached up to touch his beautiful face, drawing his eyes to hers. "You aren't a monster," she said. "You're just a lost human being."

"No. You don't understand…" The swift movement he made in leaning away from her touch hurt her feelings. "I'm _not _a good person. I'm anything but a good person. I honestly don't know why you haven't gone running for the hills yet but I don't expect it to be much longer before you never come back here. And it sucks because I really, really don't want you to leave me alone…"

In the desperation of his words, Andromeda realized she had moved so close to him that their noses were poked together. This was it. This was perfect.

"I won't," she whispered, and she closed the space between them.

At first Ezekiel hesitated, barely kissing back except for small nibbles. When he tilted his head to angle the kiss better, she felt his lips part to let her tongue through, and she tasted the sweet strawberry of the gum she'd given him. It was slow, tender, with all her intent to soothe his feelings of loneliness and despair.

After a few seconds, he pulled away, his gray eyes wide in the darkness. "Oh, God, what did we just do?"

"We kissed," she said timidly, licking her lips to retain the flavor he'd left there.

"I told you I have no self-control!" He slapped himself in the forehead and cursed under his breath.

"But it was fine. You didn't do anything wrong."

"You can't get attached to me," he told her. "I'm not… I'm not right."

"Ezekiel, we're in too deep now. I can't _not_ be attached now that I already am. You made me want you more and more and now I can't stop wanting you. This is… this is what I've been hoping for since I met you."

He shook his head fiercely. "No. This can't happen."

His words stung. After all they'd been through already, he was just _now _going to tell her to stop? Did he do that on purpose?

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying not to sound as hurt as she felt.

"I mean, I can't afford to have you want me the way you do. It's not good for you and it's especially not good for me. I can't get involved with someone like that. I just… I just can't."

"So this is about you again, isn't it?" By now, she was standing, fists balled up, her chest clenched with anger. "This is just like you staying out here in this damn trailer, because you're selfish and lazy. Do you ever stop thinking of yourself?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You kept letting me come back these past few weeks, not wanting me to like you but knowing that I would anyway? And then now that I _do_ like you, you suddenly decide that it goes nowhere? That is a textbook case of playing a girl's emotions, and let me tell you something, _that hurts_." Before he could respond, she went on, "Maybe you're right about yourself. Maybe you _aren't _a good person. Maybe I was _wrong_, because right now, all I see is the _monster_ everyone told me about."

She turned and stormed for the door as tears began to drizzle down her cheeks. How could she let herself get hurt like this? How could she have been stupid enough to trust such a… _beast_?

Her promise to Gabriel was broken. She'd gotten hurt.

"Hey!"

The sound of Ezekiel's voice stopped her in her tracks, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. Her hand tightened on the doorknob in case she decided to make a mad dash, just for the satisfaction of leaving him behind in midsentence.

For some reason, though, she couldn't, and instead remained frozen in place to hear out whatever it was he had to say.

"I'm not trying to protect me, I'm trying to protect _you_. In case you missed something, Blondie, _I'm_ the beast who lives in this damn trailer on his own, and _you're_ Little Miss Curious who has to come storming in here and mess up my life. I didn't give a shit before you showed up and now suddenly I actually care again. After all this time being alone, it's weird and kind of scary suddenly feeling like I'm _worth _something to somebody else and it's even scarier having someone who's worth something to _me_." His voice dropped considerably in volume and tone when he spoke next. "I'm as afraid as you are… of getting hurt. Nobody wants that. But that's all there is to it, Blondie… I'm just scared."

At this point, she was staring at him. Emotion was welling up inside her, but she wasn't sure whether to let it show or not yet.

"You care about me?" she asked skeptically, and began inching her way back to where he stood.

"I guess so. If I didn't, I wouldn't have taken the time to keep you here." He spread his arms for a moment and then dropped them to his sides, exhaling with resignation, but saying nothing except for, "Well… now you know."

Andromeda was moved by his reasoning. As cliché as it sounded, she felt her heart trembling, like he was magnetically drawing her back toward him. A few more steps closed the gap until she had her arms around him, holding his body like she had never held anyone before, and hoped she'd never have to hold anyone else that way. Only Ezekiel.


End file.
